Unmasked
by sugar stars
Summary: More than secret identities are revealed at the hospital's charity event. ChaCam
1. Chapter 1

**Alright this is my first House fanfic. I love Chase and Cameron together so that's my pairing. I was inspired by that episode with the black tie event, I loved Jennifer Morrison in that dress. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own House, but as my revenge I take everyone out of character and make them use colour with a u, that's right it's Canadian revenge. Eh! **

Cuddy's heels clicked with each step she took as she gripped the folder in her hand even tighter. Her destination was a frequent stop for her, the office of one Gregory House. A look of unimaginable frustration tugged at every line on her face.

The day itself had promised to be fine, it was sunny at last breaking the week long marathon of rain. And weeks of strict diet and exercise had finally paid off, she at last had an excuse to buy that white cotton shirt she had looked at in her favorite store. She had been looking forward to buying it from that snotty little sales girl who had suggested she try on something a little more age appropriate.

Then it happened. The universe had a sick sense of humor that was one thing to be sure of.

She knew what he was doing before she could even see him. There was could only be one of three possibilities. One: he was taking in a dangerous amount of Vicodin trying to beat his own record of how many he could shove into his mouth at a time. Two: Abusing Mr. Turner, the coma patient on the third floor who apparently got the best reception for General Hospital. Or of course three: Hiding out in his own little club house of a diagnostics lounge playing with his ipod or PSP or whatever other little gadget he had hidden in his desk. And any one of these or a combination of all three might include Wilson, House's own personal regularly abused Jiminy Cricket. He would of course not be doing what he was supposed to be doing, completing his steadily growing hours of clinic duty.

As Cuddy turned down the next hall she could see the blinds of his office were opened. His legs were propped up on his desk, crossed at the ankles. He was banging his fist on the end of a ruler balanced on the arm of his chair, launching small white pills that were resting on the other end into his mouth. He didn't even bother looking up as she walked in, arms crossed severely over her chest.

"We're being sued." She said coolly tossing the service papers down in front of him.

House ignored her as he screwed the lid back on his Vicodin container. Sighing he picked up the folder and started flicking through the pages. Clearly not at all interested he tossed it back carelessly on the desk. Only when he felt Cuddy's stone cold glare digging into the back of his skull did he finally look up at her.

"What? Did you want balloons and confetti to fly down from the sky?"

"House!"

House sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. "Fine I'll humor you, why oh why Cuddy are we getting sued?"

"You attacked your patient's mother, you preformed surgery on the patient's brain when they were having _heart_ problems and you almost crashed your bike into their car when you pulled out of your parking space too fast." As Cuddy listed each occasion of House's negligence he twirled his cane and admired his shoes.

"Are you done? Good. First I did not attack the mother I was escorting her out of the room. She was hysterical, her son went into cardiac arrest. Of course little bobby's heart only crapped out because he was sleeping with every slut on his campus-"

"House…"

"And I operated on his brain because every sign pointed to a tumor."

"But there was no tumor."

"Minor details, and the car thing, well I never actually hit them did I?"

Cuddy didn't know whether to laugh or throttle him. "How's the hospital supposed to pay for this?"

"Well we'll find out in court won't we?"

"We're not taking this to court House." Cuddy sighed.

House frowned and looked up at her. "Why not, it doesn't sound like they have a case to me."

"Well their lawyer is pretty sure they do and even our lawyers know we're just going to get our asses handed to us. Besides if we go to court you'll just end up in jail and worse we'll wind up paying even more. So we're at a bit of a stalemate."

House leaned back in his chair and surveyed Cuddy through deep blue eyes clouded with thought. She raised her chin and matched his gaze, refusing to let his childish staring contest get under her skin. She knew this was how he won, he would stare at you as long as it took until you caved. He didn't do it very often, no keeping quite for too long took the patience and stamina House didn't posses. But he would always use it as a last resort, a way to still seem arrogant and in charge with no words at all. But Cuddy knew it was nothing more than him just running out of clever things to say. Now if she could only keep reminding herself of that.

Finally she decided playing his game would get her nowhere. She inhaled sharply and spoke again. "How are we going to pay for this?" It took all her will to keep her voice steady and even.

"Simple, people come in, we fix 'em, they pay us, the wheel goes round."

"As shrewd as you make it sound we still can't afford this."

House frowned and picked up the folder again. He scanned down the first page before speaking again.

"The hospital's paid more than this."

Cuddy scoffed. "You would know wouldn't you?"

House frowned and looked up at her, his eyes all knowing. "You're not telling me something. What makes this so different then any other time we've been sued?"

"Are you kidding?"

"Normally you come in, bitch for about half an hour, I pretend I'm listening when I'm actually trying to remember the lyrics to Gilligan's Island, then you say something about ethics and leave and we resume our lives. This is different, you're obviously not firing me, you would have come right out and said it. Are you putting me on suspension? Taking away my parking space for some other cripple doctor? Are you going to spank me?" At this House winked and growled suggestively.

Cuddy groaned and rolled her eyes. "The only difference between this time and every other occasion you've cost the hospital millions of dollars is that we have no money."

"What happened, price of rubber gloves skyrocket?"

"If you paid attention to any of the memos I sent out you would know the entire oncology ward needs those funds for the new addition we're putting in."

"What addition? Some dark room in the back to put all the unattractive dieing people? Wow I didn't even think you read my idea I put in the suggestion box."

"It's a nursery for the children."

"Cancer kids are so lucky."

"Don't you even care about what could happen to you?"

House just smirked at her and smugly popped a pill into his mouth.

"Let me make myself as clear as possible here." Cuddy said with false sweetness in her voice. Coolly she leaned down and rested her hands on the arms of House's chair until her face was level with his. "We don't have a way to afford this, so you have a choice. You can either go to jail and find several new creative uses for that cane, or…"

Cuddy smiled, she had always thought her ultimate revenge against House would involve a blunt object of some sort, but beggars can't be choosers.

House raised an eyebrow and looked at her suspiciously. "Or what?"

"There is one other way." Cuddy said as she rose again.

House, becoming interested, folded his hands on his lap. "So you were hiding something."

Cuddy picked up the folder that lay forgotten on the desk and flipped through the pages. She pulled out a pale yellow sheet of paper and handed it to him. He stared at her outstretched hand for a moment before taking the paper. His eyes skimmed down the words scrawled out in rushed writing and frowned. It was a list for a party, and by the looks of it a big one.

"Planning another one of your key parties? Do I get to come this year? Perverted single people always have the best avocado dip."

Cuddy let his immature jab slide and just kept smiling coyly at him. "Every year Princeton-Plainsboro throws a charity event."

"Oh yeah I vaguely remember last year's, of course I was away most of the time seeing as I was curing your patient. Well I can't blame you for not doing it yourself, you were having too much fun gambling and getting wasted."

The smug smile on Cuddy's face faded, that was an unfair blow. But oh, would this ever be worth it.

"Yes well, we still need someone to plan this year's event."

House's head snapped up. "No way in hell."

Cuddy sighed. "That's too bad because well, I would be very grateful to whoever were to take this annoying little task off my hands."

House just smirked and looked at her with mock confusion. "Cuddy you wouldn't be suggesting a bribe would you?"

"It's going to take a whole lot of ass kissing on my part, not to mention all the favours I'll have to call in, but I might be able to, oh I don't know make this-" She waved the folder under his nose, "-disappear."

House suddenly sniffed the air and made a face.

"Do you smell that?" He asked bringing his nose extremely close to Cuddy's blouse.

Cuddy groaned and waited for whatever weird House thing he was bound to say.

"It smells like… a crappy deal."

Cuddy could feel the beginning of a migraine starting behind her eyes. "So you would rather go to prison than play host for a few hours?"

"Yep, prison always gets a bad rap. I figure it'll be less work and I'll get more hugs."

Cuddy scowled. "You're doing this House."

"Does my job depend on it?"

Cuddy scoffed. "You know if you went to jail you'd still be unemployed."

House gasped and looked at her with large shocked eyes. "Cuddy I'm hurt, you wouldn't wait for me to get out of the slammer, I thought you loved me baby doll." He said adding a Brooklyn accent to his speech.

"You have one last chance to take this deal House."

"Does Satan own your soul or just rent?"

"House!"

House sighed and picked up the list again. "What do I have to do?"

Cuddy exhaled the breath that she had been secretly holding in and gave a silent cheer at her victory. "Follow the list." She said curtly. With that she turned on her heel. As she neared the doorway she turned and looked back at House. His eyes were still on the sheet of paper.

"As anyone ever told you you're a manipulating-"

"Don't pout House, it isn't that much work. All you have to do is get a caterer, a bar tender, food for about 1,200 people, decorations, a theme..."

"You haven't done anything?"

Cuddy just smiled. "Have fun." She said as she disappeared into the hall.

House grabbed his large tennis ball and squeezed, watching as his knuckles turned white. Okay no problem, he could probably call in some favours get some cheap help for the food and beverage distribution. Wilson or one of his ducklings could come up with a theme, most likely Chase. He already had some extra holiday decorations that he borrowed from his neighbours a few years ago. Who knows with a couple weeks he could pull off one half assed party and keep the spending money for himself. He smiled and tossed the ball from one hand to the other resting his feet back on the desk.

Suddenly Cuddy's head popped back in doorway. "Probably should have mentioned this before, the event's at the end of this week."

Her head vanished one more time just as the large ball came whizzing through the air in her direction.

§.§.§

House hobbled down the hall with the now crumpled sheet of paper in his fist. He searched up and down the corridor looking for the right person. Almost every nurse and doctor he passed already knew him so they were obviously not the right candidate. No he needed someone with just the right qualities: gullible, slow, and most importantly, easily manipulated. And as he neared the reception desk he saw her, a young twenty something nurse with kittens on her scrubs, perfect.

"Excuse me." He said with all the fake sincerity he could muster. "This has been bugging me, I saw you across the hall, do I know you?"

The nurse blushed and flicked her dark chestnut hair over her shoulder. "I was Miss New Jersey last year."

House smiled, he didn't really recognise her but he knew that someone with looks like hers was either a beauty queen, a model or a stripper.

"Of course, I'm a big fan."

The young nurse giggled and House tried not to smirk. Women like her would do anything you asked if you complimented them enough.

"Oh, uh can I help you with anything?" She asked suddenly remembering her job.

"No I just need some paper clips." He lied as he grabbed a handful from the jar she had beside her. "Well actually now that you mention it, could you tell Dr. Cuddy that Dr. Forman needs her for a consult in room 405?"

House smiled as the nurse picked up the phone and dialled the number for Cuddy's office. He had left her a little surprise in the form of a disgruntle patient with a thermometer wedged someplace that would make anyone disagreeable. As House put his collection of paper clips in his pocket he quickly read the woman's name tag. Apparently her name was Tiffany, making House wonder if she was a stripper after all.

The perky nurse hung up the phone and turned to look at House once more. "Will that be all Dr. Forman?"

"Dr. House." He said correcting her.

Tiffany's smile faltered and she looked at him with badly hidden suspicion.

House sighed perhaps a little over dramatically. "I take it you heard of me."

"Well yes actually." She said slowly, still unsure what to make of him.

House looked up at her sadly, using his shocking blue eyes to his advantage. "People can be so cruel, so close-minded. What did they tell you?"

Tiffany looked away awkwardly. "They said you were a miserable jerk."

House made a noise some might call a whimper "You know I think these rumours only start because they just don't think I'm good enough." He said making sure she took full notice of his cane.

She looked at him warmly, her eyes welling up. "I know what you mean, nobody thought I was ever smart enough to be a nurse. But here I am." As she spoke she reached out and rested her hand over his.

Quickly House pinched himself, bringing tears to his eyes. He opened his mouth to speak but his words got choked off and he looked away.

"It's alright, you don't have to say anything." She said in practically a whisper.

House covered his mouth with his hand and nodded. He turned to leave but then suddenly turned back and reached a hand over the desk up to her. Quickly he snatched a bobby pin out of hair, realising the hair in her loose bun to fall down to her shoulders.

"You look so much better with your hair down, Tiffany." He said as he pocketed her pin.

Tiffany watched him as he turned once more, her hand pressed to her heart.

As he turned around the next corner he looked back to make sure he was well out of her sight before pulling the pin out of his pocket. Walking down the hall he passed his own office without stopping. Reaching the door he was looking for he quickly bit the plastic safety ends of the pin off revealing the sharp metal beneath. With a deep breath he bent down beside the door and cringed at the instant pain shooting through his stiff leg. He winced and jammed the pin into the lock. With an odd amount of expertise he twisted and turned the thin metal hair piece until he heard the tumblers of the locked door fall into place. Smiling wolfishly he put the pin back in his pants, and invited himself into Wilson's office.

The doctor in question looked up from his computer as House strolled in and sat down in one the chairs in front of Wilson's desk.

"I should have known a locked door wouldn't stop you. Next time I'll try razor wire."

"Got a problem Jimmy."

"House I'm really busy, if you killed someone or Cuddy won't let you kill someone can we talk about it at lunch?"

House ignored him and helped himself to one of the colourful mints in the plastic tray on Wilson's desk. Wilson grabbed the candies and hid them in the top drawer of his desk. House sighed and reached into his pocket, pulling out the list for the party which was now tightly crumbled into a ball. He chucked it at Wilson and started playing with one of the paper clips in his pocket. Wilson fumbled to catch it and it dropped on the floor. He glared at House as he picked it up. Holding it in his hand Wilson looked at House unsurely.

House sighed. "Read it Mr. M.D."

Wilson grumbled as he smoothed it out on his desk. He read only a few items on the list before looking back at House, more confused than before.

"The always gracious Cuddy as allowed me the privilege of planning this year's charity event."

Wilson covered his laughter with a cough. "What the hell did you do this time?"

"It was just a little malpractice suit, nothing huge."

Wilson nodded rereading the list again. "This is a big job, food, catering, band…"

"What?" House frowned and grabbed the list again. "This is sick, she wants a string quartet."

"This is going to take you awhile." Wilson grinned.

"Yeah too bad we only have until Friday."

Wilson started to laugh but stopped when he heard House's words sink in. "Wait, we?"

"Well of course Jimmy, I assume my bestest buddy has my back."

"Yeah right."

"What about all those times I've done you favours? When I loaned you money, gave you rides whenever you asked."

"That was me House."

"Oh yeah, I thought that sounded too much like a pushover to be me."

"Compliments will get you nowhere."

House propped his feet up on Wilson's desk staring at him. "Come on it'll be…fun."

"You're planning something aren't you, some sort of self justified prank that Cuddy will no don't be the victim of."

"The only victim here is me."

Wilson snorted. "Yeah you and hundreds of terminal cancer kids who will probably not see any money from whatever god awful party you're going to throw just to spite Cuddy."

"Oh no I'm planning the best event this hospital's ever seen." House told him.

Wilson blinked and stared at House. "You've lost me."

"Have you seen the budget for this party? It's huge."

"Right…"

"And I'm going on my third week of eating nothing but toast and rice."

"So you're going to throw an impossibly expensive event and not spend a dime. Oh I have to hear this one."

"Kinkydoc2045."

Wilson stared at House like he just lost his mind. "Did you walk into a wall on your way here?"

House smiled, "It's Cuddy's new password. You know she's bookmarked a place called red hot smokers? It's these firemen and-"

Wilson raised his hand looking disturbed and disgusted at the same time. "What does any of this have to do with your plan?"

House smirked smugly. "You know it's amazing she doesn't put more security on her private folders. Passwords, bank account, credit info all at my fingertips. You know if a person really wanted to he could just withdraw all the money he wanted from her private bank account."

Wilson shook his head. "You're unbelievable. You're talking about robbing Cuddy aren't you?"

"Now you're catching on."

"House beyond this plan being completely impossible and morally wrong in every way, she'll find out eventually."

"I have my ways."

"You'll go to jail!"

"Well then you'd have the peace you've always wanted, wouldn't you?"

Wilson rolled his eyes and glared at House. Finally he sighed. "When do we start?"

House grinned.

**Okay this was going to be a oneshot I realized that would just be way too long. So I'll break it into two parts or maybe three I don't know yet. **

**Reviews are always welcome and highly encouraged! **


	2. Chapter 2

**Alright so I get that I didn't have any Chase Cameron stuff in my last chapter, sorry about the confusion, this is the chapter when the CxC plot begins. Oh and this is isanely long so I recomend going to the bathroom now, or getting a snack don't worry I can wait.**

**... Okay done? Good let's start shall we.**

**---**

Chase raised his fist to his mouth to hide his yawn. A middle aged doctor beside him gave him a bemused smile before turning and departing down the hall. The day was only half through and he was already dead on his feet. Clinic duty was something only meant to be taken in light doses, not eight hour shifts. Unfortunately a sudden outbreak of flu had claimed dozens of clinic workers already, leaving the hospital short staffed and Chase out of luck.

He longed for a shower and something warm. Suddenly he was poked in the back. He turned and saw a smirking Cameron. _Or maybe _someone _warm,_ he thought returning her smirk with one of his own.

"Missing your beauty sleep?" She asked.

Chase's face fell. It was bad enough when House and Forman harassed him for being overly concerned about his appearance, something about Cameron teasing him bothered him. He didn't like her thinking that he was a mindless pretty boy with nothing more on his mind than his hair. He wanted her to see him as something more, what exactly he wasn't sure.

Chase rolled his eyes trying to brush off her comment. "You got stuck with Clinic duty too?"

She nodded. "Beats waiting around for a case."

Chase smiled in agreement. It had been three weeks since their last case and House was getting restless. And a bored House is never a good thing.

Chase looked up and saw his least favourite nurse was on duty. He groaned and silently motioned to Cameron to look up. She frowned slightly but looked. As her eyes found the nurse she grimaced and turned back to Chase.

"Smile." He whispered to her as both doctors slowly walked toward the nurse.

The nurse certainly wouldn't seem terrifying to anyone who had never met her before, but to everyone in the hospital she was someone to fear. Her once beautiful curly dark hair now lay listless and dull, cropped short. She was built like a brick wall, surprising for someone who was five foot nothing. She had dark lifeless eyes that glared at the world around her through a pair of thick red rimmed glasses.

Both young doctors took their time approaching her. As they got closer her head jerked up and her small piggy eyes sharpened at them. She sneered at Chase, noticing how his hair hung limp and his eyes were strained and overweighed with the dark circles beneath them. She watched them icily as they stopped before her, Chase staring at the floor and Cameron trying her best to smile.

"Good morning Paula." She greeted her.

"Nurse Westbrook." She told her with a tone that almost held the same frost as her eyes. She turned her sharp gaze on Chase and shoved a folder in his hand. "Room 424, you got a patient asking just for you." She smirked and waddled over to the other side of her desk grabbing another folder and tossing it toward Cameron. She just caught it before it hit the floor. Both doctors nodded and quickly left.

"Did you see the way she looked at me?" Chase whispered to Cameron when they turned down the hallway. "That grin she gave me…" Chase shuddered and Cameron rolled her eyes.

"My hero." She sighed.

Chase looked at her with an irritated smirk. Quickly his hand darted out and snatched the folder that she was holding. Caught off guard for only a second she turned and made a grab for it. But Chase, using his height to his advantage, held it out of her reach. He tried not to laugh at the adorable pout she had on her face as she jumped to get it. Holding it just high enough that she still couldn't reach, he opened the folder and read.

"Lucky you, Aaron Keene, age 42, Hemroids."

"You better be kidding." She reached for the file and this time Chase let her take it. She groaned as she read over the file.

"It gets better," Chase told her. "Keep reading."

Cameron shook her head sadly and she reluctantly read on. Her eyes widened in shock and horror as she turned to look at Chase. "She's the devil, Hemroids, constant diarreha and gas."

Chase did his best to look sympathetic as he stopped in front of his room. "Have fun."

Cameron nodded absently, still reading the file, and kept walking down the hall to her room. Chase shook his head, he wouldn't wish that fate on anyone. Doing his best to try and ignore whatever awful thing Cameron would have to do, he peeked through the window at his mystery patient. His hand froze on the doorknob and his whole body tensed.

Inside the room sat a girl in her late teens smearing her lips in a thick coat of strawberry lip gloss. She wore an extremely low cut top made of a pink fuzzy material and a denim mini skirt. Her long blonde hair was pulled back in a high ponytail held in place by a frothy pink scrunchie. Around her neck she wore a necklace made of white rhinestone spelling out her name _Mandy._

Chase realised why Nurse Westbrook had said there was a patient asking just for him.

Three months ago Mandy's mother had come to the Hospital after she kept passing out whenever she saw bright lights. House had cured her and sent her home fully recovered, but since then Mandy had miraculously developed a pains in her legs, or a strange rash on her body ever single week. And every time Chase told her that nothing was wrong with her she would start to cry and hug him, telling him he must be the best doctor that ever lived.

He imagined what the others would say if he ever told them he couldn't handle a little school girl crush, but this was hardly a crush. She had begun finding him when he was no longer in the hospital, just a few days ago she had bumped into him in the grocery store, and before that she had found him in a downtown café.

He sighed and glanced at his watch. As soon as he was finished he could go home, maybe get a drink on the way. He would just have to suffer through it, after all she was just a seventeen-year-old girl, how much harm could she do?

"Good morning Amanda." He said kindly as he entered the room.

Mandy looked up and quickly shoved the tube of lip gloss in her pocket. "Dr. Chase you know you can call me Mandy." She said as she stroked the jewellery around her neck.

Chase smiled and cleared his throat. "Alright, Mandy, what seems to be the problem?"

"My stomach," She said pouting. "It hurts." She gave Chase the largest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen and tilted her head sadly.

He did his best to smile. "Is it a throbbing pain?" He asked. When Mandy shook her head Chase lifted his hands to feel if her glands were swollen.

"How come you're doing that?" She asked softly, looking at him through her lashes. When Chase met her eyes she smiled and wet her lips with her tongue.

Chase quickly looked at the floor trying to ignore the incredibly unsubtle hints she was giving him. "Sometimes sore stomachs can be a sign of strep throat, it's good to check just to be sure. Open and say ah please."

Mandy opened her mouth and Chase took a long cotton swab from a jar on the table next to him. "I'm just going to take a sample of your saliva, it might tickle." Chase told her as he reached the swab into her mouth. Gently he dabbed the cotton end against the side of her throat. Taking it back out he knew he was only wasting his time, her throat looked perfectly healthy, if it was strep there would be some redness by now.

"All done." He said with a smile as he put the swab into a plastic bag.

"Already?" Mandy asked, looking disappointed.

"You'll get your results in about a week, if it is strep I'll prescribe some antibiotics to help. But I don't think you have anything to worry about, your throat seems fine."

"But what about my stomach?"

"I can't really recommend anything if you have no other symptoms, if it really is bothering you try some over-the-counter drugs."

"Well why not come to my house, just to be sure. It's not very far from here, you've been there once actually, when my mom was sick."

Chase sighed and opened her file. "Mandy, you've been here eight times in the past three months, and each time I can't ever find anything wrong with you."

Mandy opened her mouth to speak but Chase interrupted her. "I can't find anything wrong because I don't think there _is_ anything wrong."

Mandy's eyes grew huge, glistening with tears. "Are, are you saying that I'm lying?"

Chase pulled a stool out from the corner of the room and sat beside where Mandy sat on the examination table. "I think you're here for the wrong reasons."

"I'm sick!" She wailed letting her tears run down her cheeks. Suddenly she grabbed his hand. "You're a doctor, you have to help me! Didn't you take an oath or something?"

Chase shifted uncomfortably on his seat. He was couldn't handle crying women, he never knew what to do when females used that little trick. He felt useless around a crying woman, and scared. Sudden memories of his mother passed out on the floor of their bathroom after sobbing herself to sleep ran through his head. When she cried she would drink, drink to wash away every last part of her, just to erase the memory of happier times with him, Rowan Chase. And when she cried he could do nothing but listen on his bed in the next room, where he lay awake night after night.

Chase jerked away from his painful childhood memories with a sharp breath. He looked back at Mandy and almost winced at her appearance. Her face was extremely red and blotchy. Her tears had mixed with her mascara, making small streams of black liquid to dribble on her top. He opened his mouth to say something but the words got caught, his throat felt tight, his whole body was tense. What was he going to do?

Luckily at that moment there was a knock outside the room. Cameron opened the door and froze at the scene on front of her. Chase jumped from his seat,_ Shit,_ he thought,_ This can't look good. _

"H-house needs us right away." She said slowly, never taking her eyes off Mandy. Chase nodded and started to walk toward the door.

"Wa-wait," Mandy sobbed. "Wha-what ab-bout me?"

Cameron smiled kindly. "Don't worry, we'll send in another doctor when you're ready."

"W-why can't Dr. Chase j-just do it?" Mandy asked.

Cameron quickly glanced at Chase. "I think it's best if you and Dr. Chase were separated."

Chase looked at Cameron helplessly, but she refused to face him. Hanging his head he quickly left the room. Out in the hall he leaned against a wall and shut his eyes. He heard the door open and watched Cameron step out. Silently she motioned him to follow her. Chase obeyed and fell into step behind her. They walked down the next hall until Cameron spun around and glared at him.

"You made the patient cry?" She hissed at him.

"Cameron please it's not what you think." He told her desperately.

"Oh, then what the hell is it?" She asked folding her arms a staring at him with stony eyes.

Chase looked back toward the window of the room. "Look just follow me."

Cameron looked as if she wanted to yell at him some more, but decided a crowded hallway was not the best place. Sighing irritably she followed Chase, keeping a good distance between them. Chase nodded toward the window and Cameron looked in. She frowned at what she saw.

Mandy was no longer crying, in fact she looked more annoyed than upset. She snatched up her purse and rummaged through the contents. Yanking out a compact she tired to close her purse again. When the zipper got caught Mandy practically screamed and hurled the pink bag against the wall. Eye shadow, mascara, lip gloss, and other beauty products exploded from the purse and fell to the floor, a small bottle of perfume shattered on the linoleum.

Cameron quickly turned to Chase, her mouth slightly hanging open.

"Her name's Mandy," Chase told her. "She's the daughter of Mona Sinclair, a patient we cured a few months ago. She's got a little… crush on me." Chase muttered the last words awkwardly rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh…" Cameron said quietly. She turned back to the window and quickly stared down at the floor turning pink.

Chase shifted uncomfortably. "House!" He suddenly blurted out.

Cameron gave him an odd look and Chase laughed shakily. "You said that House needed us."

"Oh yeah right." Cameron said snapping back to attention.

Both doctors quietly fell into step with each other down the hall. After a few minutes Cameron risked a glance up at Chase, just as he turned to look at her. As their eyes met they just as quickly snapped away. Cameron restlessly played with the sleeve of her doctor's coat and suddenly remembered back to grade eight, when she had her first date ever. His name was Alex Glenstone, sandy blonde hair that hung in front of his eyes. They had seen a movie together and when their eyes had met she had felt just as embarrassed but also just as exhilarated as she did now. For some reason this made her smile, while Chase was wondering why the ground couldn't hurry up and swallow him whole already.

"Chase, Cameron."

The doctors turned and saw House hobbling toward them, Foreman and Wilson trailing behind him, talking. Foreman looked incredibly irritated while Wilson just looked defeated. House passed Cameron and Chase without slowing down and they hurried to catch up.

"What's going on?" Chase asked Foreman.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out." Foreman said looking at Wilson. Wilson just looked toward the ceiling, a small smile tugging on his lips.

Cameron looked at the boys briefly before walking ahead to speak with House. "Why are we here?" She asked. "You said you needed us, do we have a case?"

But House ignored her and kept walking in silence. Cameron shook her head and fell back in step with Chase.

"He's not giving much away." She told him, slightly annoyed.

"Neither is that one." He said jerking a thumb over his shoulder to point at Wilson. Beside him Foreman glared at the wall moodily, obviously no longer trying to coax any information from him.

Cameron frowned and looked around. "Wherever were going it's nowhere near any patients." She noted as they passed the through the doors to the reception area.

"Yeah, maybe he's taking us to a water park." Foreman said sarcastically.

Suddenly House stopped. The ducklings all swerved out of the way to avoid slamming into him. Cameron unfortunately lost her footing and began to fall forward. Without thinking Chase's hand shot out and caught her wrist. Awkwardly she turned just as Chase tried to hold her steady by clutching her around her waist. Having nothing else to grab onto her arms flew out and circled around his neck. She fell against his chest as they both stood dazed hanging onto each other. She looked at him, her eyes seemed distant and her lips parted to form a small O. Chase stared at them, rosy and pink, the looked soft, welcoming.

Suddenly both doctors snapped back to reality at the same time and quickly jerked apart. House stared at them, his eyebrows close together.

"Ever been to the Crown Hotel?" He asked.

Chase blinked, off put by House's question.

"W-what?" He asked.

"I have." Cameron said, quickly trying to draw any attention she could away from her and Chase.

Foreman frowned. "You mean that ritzy, posh hotel a few blocks from here?"

"The one and only. Cameron," He said suddenly turning to her. "What's it like?"

"Um, it's big, nicely decorated."

"Thanks," he said sarcastically. "Big help."

Foreman was beginning to get annoyed. "House we do have patients waiting, so just tell us whatever it is you want to tell us so we can get back to our real job, which I think you need to be reminded is not entertaining you!" He said a little too loudly.

Several nurses and other hospital staff were begin to look at them and whisper. Foreman muttered something under his breath and glared at the floor, trying to avoid the questioning glances.

House smirked. "Now Foreman, use your indoor voice."

Suddenly one voice in particular could be heard over the hushed tones.

"You clumsy oaf, let me through!" This outburst was followed by a series of heated swearing in a foreign language and a petite nurse bursting into tears and fleeing to the next room.

House smiled. "She's early." With that he walked away leaving the Ducklings confused and speechless.

Cameron turned to Wilson, her face completely bewildered. He just shrugged and followed House. After a moment of hesitation the Ducklings slowly did the same. They had to move to the side several times to avoid bumping into people who had decided to move as far away as possible from House and his mysterious new friend. It didn't take long for the Ducklings to find House and Wilson again, as almost everyone had deserted the reception area.

Chase stared at the woman beside them. She was painfully thin and pale, but for some reason this only enhanced her frigid beauty. She had a sharp nose thrust high in the air, a position he was sure it rarely moved from. Her eyes were cold, like hard chips of blue ice, they seemed like they were mocking everything around her. Her platinum blonde hair was pulled back tight in a bun. Her thin lips looked as if she had never smiled a day in her life. No wrinkles or creases or imperfection could be seen on her face, an obvious result of botox and facelifts. Her white suit made her skin seem almost pure ivory. Chase suddenly thought of ice queens from fairy tales, the kind that locked away princesses in tall towers and had to be rescued by noble princes. And House standing next to her seemed to be the perfect fit for her goblin henchman.

"Chase what the hell are you grinning about?" House asked.

Chase looked up and realised he had an enormous grin on his face. "I-"

"Never mind zat, am I to assume zat you are Gregory House?" She asked stiffly, her nose wrinkling slightly at his appearance.

House smiled, he liked this woman. "That depends, are you Zelda?"

The woman drew in a breath with a sharp hiss. "What kind of ridicule question is zat?"

Cameron winced at the woman's hideous attempt to speak English. In fact almost everything about _Zelda_ rubbed her the wrong way. Her prim suit, expensive snake skin purse, and the way she looked down her nose at everything and everyone. Suddenly she noticed the woman was holding a small black leather folder in her finely manicured fingers.

"House who is this?" Foreman asked.

Zelda turned and looked at him with a look that could curdle milk. If she disliked House she seemed to absolutely loath Foreman. "I am Zelda, and I was under ze impression zat I was hired to plan a party for zis hospital, non?"

Chase frowned. "A party?"

"Are you all dense? Oui, I am a party planner and I am here to plan a party. Now you, House, do you want to see my plans or not?" She asked holding the folder out in plain sight.

House's smile was grim. "Absolutely, we'll walk slowly though, I wouldn't want you to trip and knock that plastic nose off."

Zelda's mouth hung open and her face started to turn red.

"Zelda here, would you please show me the plans?" Wilson asked, guiding her away from House.

As she left the Ducklings could clearly hear her muttering under her breath. _"C'est incroyable."_

Cameron was the first to let her bewildered eyes stray from Zelda and travel back to House. Slowly Chase and Foreman did the same. He was vainly trying to pull the lid of his Vicodin container.

"Don't worry," He said with a grunt. "You're all invited."

"House wh-" Chase started. Quickly becoming irritated he took the bottle from House's hand and popped the lid off.

"What is going on?" Cameron finished for him.

House snatched his pills back and shoved five into his mouth. "You guys aren't that quick are you? I'm throwing a party."

"Yeah," Foreman said. "We kind of figured that out. _Why _are you planning a party?"

"I just want to bring sunshine to everyone's day, and maybe just maybe make the world a better place. And really what better way then with free booze and lowered inhabitations?"

Foreman frowned at House, his interest fading as fast as his patience. Chase rubbed his hand over his eyes, trying to dull the beginning of a migraine while Cameron looked at House then looked around the room and back to House again.

"This is fun, it's like watching chimps trying to use power tools." House said.

"She said she was planning a party for the hospital, bu…" Cameron said slowly. Then it dawned on her. "Cuddy's actually letting you plan it?"

"Darn I thought that would take another minute or two."

"Wait, plan what?" Chase asked looking from Cameron to House.

"The hospital's charity event." Cameron told him, half believing it herself.

Chase's face suddenly broke into a grin while Foreman shook his head. "Yeah right, Cuddy wouldn't be stupid enough to let you plan it."

House smiled. "Oh I'm sure Cuddy's stupidity knows no bounds, but this was more… blackmail than reward."

Suddenly they heard Wilson across the room and looked up to see Zelda walking towards them. Wilson followed trying to say something to her until finally she rounded on him and practically bared her teeth.

"I wish to speak with him." She snarled, pointing at House. She turned again leaving a very pale Wilson in her wake. "You, House. You are ze one zat hired me not him, as my employer you must look at my plans!" As she spoke her tiny body shook and strands of hair came loose from her bun and fell in front of her face.

"Is it expensive?" He asked not seeming to notice her outburst.

She blew away the stray hairs. "You want top quality you must pay top dollar."

He grinned. "Exactly what I wanted to hear."

Her eyes flashed and her cheeks reddened. She snapped her mouth open to say something but House cut her off.

"Yeah I know 'plans' look I'm lazy, just have the thing done by Friday okay?"

Zelda took a long breath. "Very well." She said, her voice clear and level. Tilting her chin up, she turned with her precious folder tucked under her arm and coolly left through the front doors.

"Makes quite the exit doesn't she?" House commented.

Wilson hand covered his face, hiding his look of amusement and embarrassment. "That wasn't necessary." He told him, letting his arm drop to his side.

"Neither were bendy straws, but the world is so much better for them." House replied. Turning back to the front entrance he watched their prissy planner get into a sleek black BMW. Without so much as waiting she started up the engine and tore across the pavement. "So…" He said to Wilson, rising slightly to his tip-toes. "What did she say?"

Wilson blinked and looked at House. "What?" he asked.

House sighed. "Well I think I'd like to know what I'm paying for, so what'd she tell you about her… um plans I think she called them."

Wilson paused for a moment, letting House's utter arrogance seep in. "You're… incredible."

House turned to Chase, who was the closest person to him, and rolled his eyes. "Like I don't hear that a million times a day."

"All she wanted to do was have you look at the plans, and then after you harass her to no end and she leaves, and I doubt if she will even come back, that's when you choose to take an interest?" Wilson asked, his voice rising with every word.

"Um… yeah." House said simply, Wilson's words not even fazing him.

Wilson planted his hands on his hips and titled his head back to stare at the ceiling. Squinting at nothing, he slowly lowered it again and rubbed his eyebrow. "It's a masquerade ball." He said quietly.

Even House was silent as everyone turned to stare a Wilson.

"A costume party?" Foreman said.

"No not quite. The costumes are more…sophisticated, and everyone has to wear a mask." Wilson told him.

"And this is supposed to be done by Friday? That's only five days away." Cameron said.

"Well actually, it's Sunday." House said. "Whoops, I guess our little party planner will be working over time."

"House this is insane. How is anyone supposed to find out about this party? I mean last year's event was publicised for months, not to mention the party planner had more than a week to plan the whole thing." Cameron said crossing her arms.

House suddenly got a strange glint in his eyes and brought his cane up to his hands. The other doctors looked at him, he looked as if he was about to beat someone around the head. Cameron slowly took a step back beside Chase and Wilson. House looked around the large room and found what he was looking for; two interns rushing to the clinic.

"You." He said, pointing his cane at them. "Here, now."

The first intern, a man in his mid twenties with dark curly hair stopped and glared at him. He whispered something to his companion, a young woman in her very early twenties with light bouncy strawberry blonde hair. She looked at House for a moment before slowly beginning to walk away again with the man.

House sighed and quickly lifted his cane into the air. With frightening force he slammed the solid end against the floor, and a sickening cracking noise filled the room. Cameron jumped back and collided with Chase. This time he braced her with his hands only for a second before letting her go again. He clenched his hands into fists, trying to brush off the irritating tingling on his palms. Did she have to keep doing that? It wasn't as if he didn't like it, on the contrary he liked it just a little too much.

Across the room the two, now very pale, interns froze and stared at House their mouths slightly gapping.

"Well," He said, leaning against his cane again. "Are you going to come this time?"

The male intern shook his head at his friend but she didn't pay him any attention and slowly started to walk toward House. The man glared at him again before running to catch up with his friend. The woman hugged her body uncomfortably with her arms as she came to stand in front of House, the other intern crossed his arms over his chest and stood arrogantly.

House leaned against his cane, which now creaked warily. Digging into his pocket he pulled out a folded piece of paper.

"You," he said tossing it to the female intern. "Make about, oh… a thousand copies of those."

The girl blinked and paused for a second. Her friend rolled his eyes. "Are you nuts? We're kinda busy, saving lives and whatnot." He told him.

"Are you an intern?" House asked.

"Yeah so?"

"Consider this training."

"For what?"

"If you have to ask then you really need the training."

The man opened his mouth but the woman who still hadn't spoken suddenly piped up. "Norm no." She said to him as she placed a hand on his shoulder. Then she smiled timidly at House. "There's an office supply store near my apartment that does copies. The guy who works there has a crush on me I'm sure he'd give me a discount or something."

"See?" House said turning back to her friend. "It's like it was meant to be. When you're done make sure they make it to Dr. Cuddy's office."

She nodded and grabbed the man by his arm and pulled him back with her to the clinic.

"There," House said. "My work's done."

"I'm sorry but how exactly?" Wilson asked him.

"That was a poster for the party."

"How's sending a thousand copies of a poster to Cuddy supposed to help?" Chase asked.

"It won't, but it'll be fun."

"Whatever," Foreman said suddenly. "I actually have patients to see." Turning on his heel he started to leave.

"Foreman," House said stopping him.

Foreman turned and looked at House impatiently. "What?"

"I assume you're coming to the party."

"I think I've made plans, ones that don't include me wearing a costume."

"Zelda said not every one has to wear a costume, just a mask." Wilson said.

Foreman glared at him.

"The party is mandatory for all hospital staff." House told him.

"Since when?" Foreman asked.

"Since I was in charge."

Foreman just shook his head slightly and turned again, this time roughly pushing open the doors back into the waiting room of the clinic.

Chase blinked and turned to Cameron. "Well I've officially been off work…" he glanced at his watch. "For fifteen minutes." He shook his head. "Have fun." He told her.

She nodded absently while she stared off into space.

"Cameron…" He said waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sorry, what?"

Chase gave her a bemused smile. "I'm going home."

"Okay, um drive safe…"

Chase frowned and followed her gaze. He almost instantly saw her eyes resting on House.

For a second he felt something roar in his ears and made the heat under his collar rise. He blinked in surprise, he knew of small instances where this gnawing feeling would present itself. It would be brief and only mildly there but he knew what it was; jealousy.

He clenched and unclenched his hands into fists. This was unfair, he had gotten over her hadn't he? He had put her far away into the back of his mind, he knew any feelings he once had were useless. He hated giving up but in this case it was a lost cause. Sure he was still insanely attracted to her, that perhaps being the only reason he could still look her in the eye after her experiment with meth, but he had told himself he just didn't have any deeper feelings.

But he knew jealousy was an emotion that would arise when deeper feelings were present, and right now his head was swimming in it.

Grinding his teeth he turned and walked toward the front entrance. Pushing open the door he felt the muggy summer air swamp around him like a fog. As he walked toward the parking lot he realised he had taken the long way, the staff parking was at the east end of the building while he was all the way at the west. He thought this was good, more time to think.

Smiling grimly he remember that thinking would be the absolute last thing he would want to do. But thoughts came anyway, wrong thoughts. Flashes of steamed bedroom windows and groans of pleasure that turned to grunts of ecstasy soared to his minds eye. Cameron straddling his hips and nipping dangerously on his ear and neck, her nails clawing down his back, she had drawn blood, but he hadn't gave a damn. He gave as good as he got though, he had pinned her beneath him until she screamed his name and begged for realise. But this wasn't Cameron, it wasn't how he wanted her. He would never know what she was like really in bed, all he had were memories of a mistake, a mistake that would never end.

His eyes snapped open and he gasped. Leaning against the wall of the building he fought for breath. Suddenly he felt his lip throb. Trailing his tongue over it he tasted the bitter salty taste of blood. He sighed and realised he had been biting down on it and could feel the faint impression of teeth marks.

He broke into an all out sprint to his car. The parking lot came into view as he listened to the beating of his feet against the ground. He cleared his mind of everything, focusing only on his car.

Only twenty more feet.

A female doctor suddenly appeared before him and Chase swerved out of the way. His feet slid beneath him and he fell to the ground.

"Oh my god, are you okay?"

But Chase wasn't listening, he got to his feet and started to run again, ignoring the protesting sting of his ankle.

Fifteen feet.

She had looked like Cameron, dark silky hair that fell to her shoulders in loose curls. He loved Cameron with her hair down, it looked soft and seemed to smell even more of her floral shampoo.

Ten feet.

She smelled amazing. Soap, perfume, everything on her body drove him to the brink of insanity. Her smell was her, uniquely Allison.

Five feet.

He reached out his hand, ready to rip open the door and peel away, to a cold shower most likely. Suddenly he wondered what her hair would look like wet, lathered with her shampoo, slick and dark.

He tore open the car door and slammed it behind him as he got in. He reached in his pocket and yanked out his keys. Then… he froze. He sat with the keys inches away from the ignition and then slowly let his head fall back. There was no doubt about it, he was screwed.

---

**Whew, that took awhile. But I just sat down today and apparently hopefully killed my writers block (knock on wood). Anyway I hope you liked it. The rating definitely had to be raised, Chase has some dirty thoughts. **

**Next chapter costume shopping for our star crossed lovers.**

**Yeah this is no where near my best work, but I'm only writing this story because I'm taking a small break from my other one. But if you thought it was good please tell me, I'm nothing if not insecure. **

**Oh and hi Astarcsi It's me SugarySweet from the forum boards. Thanks for adding me to your favs list. I really hope you're who I'm thinking of otherwise I'm scaring someone. **


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